


Books and Flying Pigs

by sharadaskye



Category: My Time At Portia (Video Game)
Genre: Arlo and Albert and Aadit are my faves, Going to write more, I need more Male!Builder fics of any kind, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-05-20 21:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19385380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharadaskye/pseuds/sharadaskye
Summary: A bookish man inherits his father's workshop. Having no skills in building, can he feel at home in Portia while learning how to build from his father's journal? On his first day, Sharada meets Arlo and finds himself in a whirlwind of commissions, romance, and figuring out how to be a builder.





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> I need more male!Builder fics, so like I tend to do, I am going to write one myself. Wish me luck. Comments are appreciated.

Sharada could feel himself starting to get seasick while riding the boat to his father’s workshop. The waves weren’t the issue, as the ocean seemed calm today, but the speed in which they were travelling had him kneeling next to the side of the boat, ready to lean over the railing at a moment’s notice. His dark green messenger bag and luggage with his belongings and books sat next to him ignored. He wanted to read on the trip, as it was going to be an hour and a half long boat ride, but his stomach had other plans for him. 

When they finally made shore, he stood up on shaky legs, and picked up his bag off the deck. His long brown hair blew in the ocean breeze that helped calm his stomach down as he walked off the boat and onto the deck. There were a few feet until solid land, and Sharada couldn’t be happier at that moment. 

The captain of the boat - Wuwa, he reminded himself - waved him off and welcomed him to Portia. Sharada put the strap of his back over his shoulder, took a deep breath, and started walking the distantly familiar walk to the wooden workshop his father owned with his luggage in tow. There were a few people milling about on the farm that he walked past, but their names were forgotten to time. He only spent a few summers here and after his parents divorced, he lived with his mother. Sharada wasn’t close with his father, which is why he was surprised to receive a letter a week after his father’s passing containing a key and a short letter telling him that the workshop was now his. 

He stood at the front of the gate, holding a slightly rusty key in one hand, and took a step forward. The sign that he helped his father paint with the workshop name ‘Arazo Creations’ was now faded and looked like it was about to fall off if he slammed the door too hard. Sharada inserted the key, turned the lock, and gently pushed open the front door - being hit with a wave of heat and must. 

The exterior of the workshop was in better shape than the interior, the floor had several holes, the window had several cracks and barely opened, and there was a full inch of dust on everything. 

Next to the bed, a wooden box held an axe and a pickax that were clearly on their last legs. He found a leatherbound journal next to the tools, and he opened it up hoping for some idea how to fix the floors. The designs in the book were in his father’s neat writing style, and while they didn’t have much information on repairing floors, it did have some useful information for later. Sharada threw his bag onto the bed, sending a cloud of dust flying up everywhere, and he knew what he had to do. 

He stripped the bed, throwing the sheets and comforter on the floor, and dragged the mattress out of the building and onto the wooden platform where his father did his work. The bedframe, tools, box, and sheets were next, everything was removed from the house. Sharada opened the windows - after a few minutes of struggling with the rusty locks - and propped open the door with the pickax. Sharada grabbed the axe and walked over to a younger tree, if he had to get wood to replace the missing floorboards, might as well make it quick. He swung the axe at the tree and dropped it the second it connected. After spending his years studying mathematics and some light engineering, he wasn’t physically strong in any capacity. 

“You can’t give up already. The first day is always the hardest, so pick up the axe and get used to it.” 

He spoke to himself often, a habit he picked up while working through difficult mathematics problems, and picked up the axe and swung it again. It still felt foreign, and just after a couple of swings, he was already out of breath. Whatever pain he was going to feel tomorrow would be worth it, he wanted to be independent, and this is how he’s going to live now. It took a few hours to get the tree down, and the axe felt better in his hands when he was working on shaving off the bark and cutting the boards into shape for the holes in the floor. 

The sun was starting to dip low in the western sky, and Sharada had barely finished patching up the holes in the floor. He didn’t have a broom, so the dust would have to air out over time, but he did shake out the sheets far from the house before dragging everything back in. The windows wouldn’t shut no matter how much he tried pushing or pulling on them, so he left them open for the night. Despite the season, the sun did warm up the house so that while he was getting everything ready for bed, he put the pickaxe and axe in the wooden box which he left next to the front door, he grabbed his bag and pulled out his own notebook. Sharada decided it would be worthwhile to chronicle his times here in Portia, so he wrote down his thoughts and anything that popped into his mind. He put his notebook and his father’s journal under his pillow as it seemed better than to put it on the floor. Within a few minutes of his head hitting the pillow, he was asleep. 

When he woke up the next morning, he was extremely sore from the physical activity he was not used to. Sharada grabbed the two books from under his pillow, and wondered if he was doing the right thing by moving here. He stood up from his bed and realized that he had nowhere to put his clothes, so he took them out of his bag and put them on the foot of his bed. The first thing he would do today is look around town for a broom and some sort of drawers that he can store his clothing in. 

Once he finished changing clothes, he wondered how his father lived here and washed his clothes. There was a river nearby, and Sharada could do his laundry there if there wasn’t a place in town to wash clothes. He threw his bag over his shoulder, put both books inside and relished in the empty bag. While he wasn’t unpacked in any sense of the word, he did empty out a larger backpack that he could use to carry his axe and pickax with him, along with whatever materials he happened to gather. 

As he took a look in the reflection of the window, he decided that this would have to be presentable enough to the citizens of Portia. He was tall and thin, two aspects of his body he wished he could change. Sharada had long brown hair, usually tied up with whatever he had available and a small goatee growing on his chin. In the early spring morning, he wore a pair od dark blue jeans, a green t-shirt and a grey sweater tied around his waist on the off chance the weather shifted. 

His mother always told him that he was the spitting image of his father when he was younger, and Sharada took some pride in that, but he wished he didn’t tower over most people. Being over 6’ meant he stood out from the crowd and the attention made him want to crawl back into bed. Despite going through the higher levels of academia, Sharada had a hard time making friends as he tended to keep to himself, so moving to a new town was very unlike him. He wanted to return to the place where he had great memories with his father, spending summer nights catching fireflies and helping out the old lady who owned the farm next door.

He opened the door with a plan to explore the town and figure out what his life would be like when he met an older man in a blue suit. The well dressed man caught Sharada off guard, as he wasn’t expecting anybody to stop by. 

“Giles?” The smile on the well dressed man’s face broke into a look of shock and awe, Sharada didn’t know what to say.

“You mean my father? He’s gone, I’m his son Sharada.” 

“Excuse me, you look almost identical to your father when he was your age. I’ll look for a picture to show you.” The man paused and held out his hand, “Apologies Sharada. My name is Presley, and I knew your father very well. I’m here to welcome you to Portia and show you to Town Hall. You can follow me there if you’d like.” The man - Presley - seemed to realize his insensitivity, but Sharada caught the look and waved it away. 

“No need to bring it up. I appreciate your kindness, and I am glad my father had friends here.”

“Still, I am sorry about your loss. Giles was a good man and helped a lot of people.” 

Presley showed him to the Town Hall, where he met Antoine, Higgins, and the Mayor Gale. He remained pleasant while Higgins complained about his presence in town, and Sharada knew that he would learn to ignore Higgins. Bullies like him never caused him any stress, as he just ignored them and their childish antics. Higgins stormed off and Presely apologized for the man’s behavior. 

“You do not need to apologize for him, it’s fine. I know I’m new and people are going to not like me. It happens everywhere.” 

Sharada accepted the commission from Presley, and excused himself to explore the town. He left before Presley could offer to show him around, and he decided to walk up the sloping pathways to the upper levels of town. On the way he passed by a few people, and he waved and offered a nervous smile. His main goal was to find the doctors and ask if he could do anything to get rid of the soreness in his shoulders and back. 

Once he was at the highest point of the hilly town, Sharada looked back and saw the entire town milling around, living their lives. He wondered if he would fit in here, given that everyone knows each other already. The classic red cross symbol on the sign indicated that Sharada had found the doctor’s office, which was small compared to the hospitals he was used to. With a deep breath, he opened the door and found two people working on cleaning and filing papers. 

“Good morning!” The blond woman called out from her filing cabinet, when she turned around to see who stopped in, she was clearly surprised to see a new face. “I haven’t seen you in town before, who are you?”

“My name’s Sharada and I just moved into my father’s workshop outside of town.” 

“That abandoned building? I thought it would remain empty forever.” The black haired man said from the back. “I’m Dr. Xu and this is my assistant Phyllis.” 

“It’s nice to have another Builder in town. I’m tired of Higgins looking smug whenever he delivers one of the commissions I put up.” Phyllis said with a gentle smile.

“I’m still new and not used to all this. But I’ll do my best.” Sharada admitted with a slight blush on his cheeks, “I’m actually here to see the doctor, I guess that would be you then Dr. Xu.” 

“Ah, come on over then. Phyllis will get some paperwork for you to fill out after, but I’d be happy to help you with whatever you came in for.” 

Sharada was led into a room, and Dr. Xu shut the door behind him, giving the two some privacy from the main room.

“What seems to be causing you pain?” 

“I think I’m not used to the physical activity, I repaired the floor of the house yesterday and cut down my first tree - rather pathetically if I’m being honest.” Sharada sat on the cold metal examination table, removing the bags and putting them down on the floor next to him. 

“That makes sense, your body is going to be sore for a long time while you get used to the physical exertion that you were not used to. I can’t really offer a remedy other than stretching and getting used to the activity itself.” Dr. Xu sat down on a chair, talking while he mixed up some ingredients into a bowl and he started grinding it all into a thick, green-grey paste. 

“I figured that would be the cure. Do you have any recommendations on the types of stretches for the back and shoulders? They are killing me today.” 

“I doubt they are actually going to be the death of you, but we can certainly go over some stretches before you go. I do have this to give you though, it’s not a cureall for sore muscles, but it will help if you put one on right before bed after a particularly rough day. This is supposed to help with the rebuilding of muscle tissue which is why you’re so sore after getting some physical activity.” Dr. Xu handed him the paste on some cloths that he could use to apply them with. Sharada gratefully took the medicine and gently placed them in the empty pocket of his backpack. 

“Additionally, I’d go visit Aadit on the tree farm. He’s good with an axe and could probably show you how to get more comfortable with it. He’s on the trail past Spohie’s farm, you can’t miss it.” 

“Thank you so much Dr. Xu. I’ll definitely visit Aadit today and see if he has any tips for me.” 

“You’re welcome Sharada.” Dr. Xu stood up and opened the door back to the main room, and walked over to Phyllis’ desk. Sharada picked up his bags and followed suit, waiting for further instructions. 

“Here you go Sharada. Just get these filled out when you can and bring them back.” Phyllis handed him a small stack of paper and a pen. “Most of these are just general information, but if you do have any allergies, please make sure to list them.” 

“I will do. Thank you both so much.” Sharada put the papers in the messenger back with his notebook and his father’s journal, and left to explore more of the town. On the way out, he saw a redheaded man walk out of the building with the Flying Pig statue in front of it and Sharada waved at him before he continued back down to the main plaza of town. 

“Hey, you must be new here. I’m Arlo, captain of the Civil Corps. If you ever need help, don’t hesitate to reach out.” Sharada nodded and thanked Arlo, before making a hasty retreat. 

Dr. Xu watched from the window and smirked, apparently the builder already had a crush on one of the residents. He made a note to visit the builder tomorrow morning to check up on how he is doing - housecalls were a part of his job as town doctor. 

Sharada walked back down the hill, off to find the Tree Farm and this Aadit that Dr. Xu recommended him to talk to. He could still feel the warmth on his cheeks from talking to Arlo. It was a crush, just a crush from meeting a nice, strong, confident man and Sharada would be over it soon. These crushes were just a phase, better to not dwell on it. He wasn’t even sure if Arlo would be into dudes, so it made the whole getting over it much easier. 

He stood in the plaza in front of town hall, and took a deep breath. This would be an interesting adventure but Sharada was eager to see what living in Portia would be like.


	2. Farming Trees?

Within the first week of moving to the town of Portia, Sharada had met most of the townspeople and already had a few he considered his friends. They seemed to immediately connect and share their interests. 

Dr. Xu was always asking him to gather various herbs from the vast fields around the town, and Sharada usually had some sort of injury for the doctor to test his newest ointment or salve on. Despite the many times the medicine man asked to just be called by his name, the builder would always say it for a few hours but eventually Sharada would return to calling him Dr. Xu. 

The pair of them usually met inside the empty lobby of the clinic and Phyllis took it as a sign to leave the pair alone. Sharada didn’t mind her presence but whenever she left, he felt like he was doing something wrong. When Sharada showed up with a bloodied towel wrapped around his arm, Xu immediately pushed him into a private room and berated the builder while cleaning the injury. The normally reserved and calm doctor would often joke around with the newest builder and if the other man was injured, Xu would always chide the man for his behavior. 

Xu didn’t know what it was about the builder that caused him to get injured while doing the most mundane tasks, but having someone outside of the civil corps to treat was a welcomed change of pace. The doctor did wish that the builder would show a bit more patience and grace in his work, this would allow him to avoid some of the injuries. Xu did feel a twinge of guilt when he heard the door open to the clinic, he hoped it was his friend with another injury so he can test out the latest herbs that Sharada delivered. 

When Sharada explored the main town, he visited all of the shops and introduced himself to the store owners. He figured the newspaper would be worthwhile to get set up, as he was new to town and didn’t know any of the local holidays. He opened the door and found a witch, which was quite surprising. Sharada noticed the girl in the large, blue pointed hat and assumed it was a witch hat. Mei, the reporter from another town, asked if he would be willing to do an interview for the paper. Her explanation was that the town rarely got new residents that his introduction via a special article in the paper would let the whole town know a bit more about him quickly. 

Mei would interview Sharada on whatever commission he was working on at the moment. The newspaper wasn’t doing well, but covering the improvements in the town that Sharada was working on seemed to help sales a bit. Sharada felt bad that he couldn’t do more to help the newspaper but he didn’t feel like anything he did was newsworthy. 

The three of them would meet up every Wednesday and hang out underneath the giant tree in the plaza, just chatting about how everything was going and offer encouragement. Most of the time Sharada would make mental notes if either Mei or Xu asked for anything to help their work. Mei mentioned having a printing press, and a week later, Sharada asked if the three could visit his workshop. She sucker punched him under the rib cage which he figured was a roundabout way of saying thank you. When he delivered the hand mixer to Xu’s clinic, the doctor was much kinder in showing his appreciation. While he usually worked on whatever commissions were posted on the board, if he saw something from Xu or Mei, he would always grab those commissions before Higgins could even look at them. Sharada wasn’t sure what Higgins did all day, as the only time he saw the other builder was early in the morning when they were scoping out what commissions were posted. 

Sharada felt like a part of the community, albeit a somewhat distant part of the community, but he enjoyed his time working at his father’s workshop. While he enjoyed working and helping out around town, the fact he still couldn’t chop down a tree without almost hitting his feet or having the axe come flying backward was disheartening. He didn’t feel like he was getting the hand of wielding an axe, but he wasn’t sure what he was doing wrong. 

On an early Wednesday morning, Sharada was in dire need of wood to maintain his furnaces, so he grabbed his newly forged iron axe and set out towards the small grove of trees besides Emily’s farm. He set his bag down on the ground, far away from the tree and readied himself. With a small stretch and a prayer that he didn’t break his new axe on the first swing or else, he twisted around. 

“If you swing that way, you’re going to end up missing and if you manage to hit, it’s going to bounce off the bark.” A voice came from behind and caused the builder to drop the axe entirely. 

“Woah!” Thankfully the axe just dropped and landed into the soft soil, blade side down. 

“Easy there. I noticed you were going after larger trees and I couldn’t watch you fail anymore.”

Sharada started at the male, wondering just who was judging him on his skills with an axe. When he finally turned to look, Aadit was standing there with a gentle smile. Knowing it was Aadit, Sharada relaxed slightly as he knew the other man was genuinely concerned about his safety. 

“Sorry Aadit, I don’t know what I am doing. I’ve been failing upwards for the most part.” Sharada explained, picking up the axe from the dirt and wiping off some of the dirt clods. 

“I should’ve said something sooner, as you’ve probably gotten some bad habits from doing it your way. If you want, I’ll teach you some tricks on how to chop trees without breaking your axe or putting your legs at risk.” 

For the next hour, Aadit and Sharada practiced on the large tree, taking turns swinging at the trunk. Aadit would comment on the builders stance, the form, how close he was standing to the tree and everything that Sharada was doing incorrect until he was swinging and taking down the tree himself. Aadit offered for the pair of them to sit on the stump, a quiet suggestion for the two to take a break. 

“I can’t believe how easy that was. I owe you a lot Aadit, you just saved me hours of time whenever I need to chop some firewood.” Sharada pulled out a couple containers of water, and offered one to the owner of the tree farm. 

“I’ve had years of practice. If you have some time, I was actually on my way to see you this morning.”

“Oh? What were you going to come over for?”

“We’ve ran into some trouble with the tree farm. There is a huge infestation of Panbats that are preventing us from doing anything on the farm. Would you be able to figure out how to remove them? I’d prefer if you could do it humanely but I’m more worried about the trees. We haven’t been able to care for them properly.”

Sharada nodded along with what Aadit was saying, and he figured that he would need to ask Petra for some advice as he wasn’t familiar with Panbats. He agreed to help the tree farm, and Aadit welcomed him to practice on the trees outside the fence, and offered to help him with his form anytime. 

After the pair of them hauled the wood back to Sharada’s workshop, Aadit left to go back to the tree farm and see if he could monitor the situation with the infestation. Sharada left the wood for later, and ran over to the Research Center to pick Petra’s brain. 

“Ah, welcome back Sharada. I haven’t finished the discs you left us the other day.” Petra spoke from the terminal, not even bothering to look at who entered the center. Her focus was on the discs that the builder left and the corruption that was stopping her from completing the analysis. 

“That’s a bit eerie how you do that. How do you even know it was me? It could’ve been Merlin or someone else.” Sharada was stumped as to who else would even enter the Research Center but he figured the proprietor of the center would be a good guess. 

“Merlin’s been here for the last hour. You’re the only other person who visits us.” Her tone was obviously joking, but it did ring with a hint of truth. Nobody visited the center outside of the pair she mentioned. 

“Anyway, I’ve got a problem and I’m not sure how to go about fixing it. Can I borrow some of your brain power?” 

“Borrow, as if. I’ll help, you don’t have to butter me up like that.” Petra whirled around on her chair, and sat up, stretching from being hunched over for several hours. “What’s the problem?”

“Panbats.” 

“Are you sure you’re taking to the right person? Arlo and the Civil Corps would be better to take out some enemies.”

“If it was that simple, would I be here?” 

“You got me there, if you’re not here for violence, it will be something more humane. Let me guess, you want to remove them from an area without killing them. You’re probably going to need something that annoys them and makes them want to leave. An alternate method would be to pacify them and relocate them manually. Let me know which plan you want to pursue and bring me 5 discs. I’ll have a design ready for you in a day.”

He handed over a small stack of discs and asked for the relocation method, despite her earning that it would be harder to build. Sharada stood firm in his decision and knew that Aadit would appreciate relocating the Panbats over annoying them to leave. He left knowing that tomorrow would be a busy day if he wanted to get the boombox built for the tree farm. 

———-

It took longer than expected, some of the items required were harder to acquire than he originally thought. Most of the materials he had, but Sharada spent the morning finding blue leather and building the speakers. He decided that it was worth the effort when Aadit stopped by and asked what he was building. Aadits reaction renewed Sharada’s effort to complete the boombox as soon as possible. 

Later that afternoon, the boombox was built according to the specs sent over by Petra, but Sharada was not going to deliver it without testing it. Thankfully, while in the ruins, he found a couple of cassettes. The plastic shells were broken, but he was able to replace them easily and he found that they had two kinds of music on them. The first cassette, which originally had a faded red heart on the label, had some sort of romantic symphonies on it, and the second, whose label had entirely faded except for the letters S, M, and R, had some more relaxing music. Sharada wasn’t sure what genre to classify the second cassette, but the melody did have him starting to feel sleepy, so he figured it would work for the Panbat infestation. 

Putting the boombox in a sack, he hauled it up the slight hill towards the Tree Farm, hoping that Aadit would be there so he can unveil his solution. Aadit and Dawa stood on either side of the table where Sharada was tinkering with the settings on the boombox as he didn’t plan on hooking it up to one of the loudspeakers there. After a few minutes, he inserted the cassette and hit the button to start playing the music. When the music began, there was a moment where he held his breath, hoping that it worked to lull the Panbats to sleep and after Sharada turned to look at the fluffy, flying creatures, he wanted to cheer as they slowly landed on the ground, fast asleep. 

Aadit and Dawa both pumped their arms quietly in excitement that it worked, and the three of them started carefully moving the Panbats to the empty field behind Sophie’s farm, near the lake. There were a few trees there, so the Panbats would be able to nest there, and leave their grove of trees alone. 

As the sun was finally starting to dip low in the sky, the three of them moved the last Panbat nest over to their new home. Dawa explained that they don’t really roam far from their nests, so with the last nest moved, the Panbats wouldn’t have much desire to return. When the three of them returned ot the Tree Farm, Aadit thanked the builder profusely for helping with their problem in a humane fashion. 

“I don’t want to ask for more help, but since we haven’t been able to water the trees, they are looking pretty bad. Would you be able to build a device that moves water from the lake over here?” 

“I should be able to. I can’t guarantee that it’s going to be built soon, as I haven’t the faintest idea on how to start. I’ll talk to Petra at the Research Center and see what I can do.” 

“No rush,” Aadit said, clapping a hand on Sharada’s shoulder, “You’ve already done so much for us. We can manage to stabilize these trees while you figure out the design.” Aadit’s warm smile meant more to Sharada than the few thousand Gols they handed over. He thanked them for the amount of money and began walking towards the exit of the Tree Farm. 

———-

Sharada was rushing to get back to town, as he hoped the Research Center would be open for at least a few more minutes so he can get Petra working on the design for a water transportation machine. He figured it would need to be something self sustaining as if it relied on wood, then Aadit or Dawa would need to bring wood to an engine every day. 

He heard the clock above the school begin to chime, and he quickened his pace, as the doors would be locked within the hour and he was just outside the stone archway leading into Peach Plaza. Sharada waved at the few townspeople he passed, noticing that Xu and Mei were already at The Round Table at their usual booth through the colored window. 

Moving from a brisk walk to a slight jog, the builder passed the flower shop and could see Central Plaza entering his view, thankfully the lights of the Research Center were still on, which meant he still had time before it closed. When he was turning the corner next to Best Brothers, he collided with another person, and Sharada closed his eyes and waited for the impact of him falling onto the concrete. When he never hit the ground, he cautiously opened his eye to see who caught him. Arlo held him, looking concerned at the builder in his arms. 

“Sharada! You should really watch where you’re running, if I didn’t catch you, I’m certain Dr. Xu would be getting an emergency visit tonight.” Arlo chuckled, helping the builder get back on his own feet, but didn’t let go entirely. 

“I’m sorry, I was rushing to get to the-” Sharada glanced at the Research Center, and was crestfallen to see the lights off for the night, “Research Center.” 

“Dang, that’s too bad. I’m sure Petra will be happy to assist you tomorrow morning.” 

“I know, I just wanted to pick her brain tonight. I appreciate you catching me Arlo, I’ll see you around.” 

Sharada turned away from Arlo as soon as he could feel the embarrassment creep on his face. He knew that if he stayed the leader of the Civil Corps would notice that he was flushed. Arlo called a goodnight to the builder as he walked back the way he came. He chuckled again and hoped the builder would continue to be hyper focused, as catching him was quite enjoyable. Sharada just wanted to tell Mei and Xu what happened, to have someone tell him that he was just dealing with a crush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Works got me going through some changes, so chapters may take a bit longer to write. I hope y'all are enjoying it so far


End file.
